65
The curtains continued to flap and sway, oblivious to the conflict and heartache. Victoria wanted to go to them, run her fingers along the cool glass behind and shield herself in their folds, the translucent barrier between her and the Hudson, the soft fabric at her back. There’d be no room for Teagan to betray her, for her husband to resent her existence.
“Say something,” Teagan prompted.
Victoria had turned in her seat, gazing toward the windows. She resolutely would not look at her sister. “No.”
“Tor.”
“No.”
Teagan sprang to her feet, standing directly in her field of vision. Victoria refused to meet her gaze, looking anywhere but at Teagan. Was it childish? Perhaps, but she needed a goddamn minute to process the fact that her sister had been sleeping with her husband. Because while she knew that she should feel hurt, she didn’t think that was the emotion clawing at her chest.
“Hey, Tor,” Teagan clapped in her face. “If we’re going to have this civilized discussion, then let’s really have it, all right? You couldn’t care less about my sex life—or Warren’s, for that matter—so stop acting like I pissed in your Cheerios.”
She’s not wrong, Victoria thought. It would’ve been easier to stay mad if she were.
Sex with Warren was a passion-free fumbling in the light of the TV on scheduled weekends and birthdays. Desire was a perfume on her dresser. And she didn’t blame the years. Getting in the mood with the man who expected her to organize PTA brunches in a sweater set didn’t come easily. Or ever.
“Fine,” Victoria said begrudgingly. “It’s not that you slept with him but why you did it that bothers me. Is this some sort of fetish? A thing for unavailable men?”
“This isn’t a pattern.”
Victoria backed up a step, crossing her arms over her chest and raising an eyebrow.
“One time,” exclaimed Teagan, “and I regret every second of my weakness in trusting you with that. Warren wasn’t some random patient’s unhappy spouse who I made the mistake of falling for, however briefly. Warren said all the right things, made all the right moves. I knew it wasn’t ethical, but I also believed him when he said you were in the process of getting divorced.”
“You wanted to sleep with Warren, so you slept with Warren. Not every relationship is an epic love story.”
“Warren and I weren’t in love, idiot. He wanted me. I needed him. Simple math. Not much different than what you do at Livingston on a daily basis. You deal with numbers, but it’s basically the same thing.”
And there it was again: the steadfast Livingston logic.
“Why wouldn’t you have come to me?” Victoria asked. “Why do exactly what Dad did and go to Warren?”
“First of all, Dad was a dick who played you like a fiddle. Don’t lump us together. Warren didn’t give a shit about Livingston, not if it meant you’d be his boss. The man was good on paper to a lot of people.”
“I’d like to think I had a decent understanding of his beliefs since I, you know, married him.”
“Then why was it such a shock that he wanted to force you out? Why fight it so hard? You knew what he wanted when you married him, and yet when he pulled the Husband and Provider card, you balked.”
“Why do you care?” Victoria was near shouting. “You’ve been manipulating me from the very beginning. You went behind my back to convince Warren to leave me and torch the company.”
“I never tried to get him to leave you,” Teagan interrupted. “We weren’t absconding into the sunset with briefcases full of money, laughing at your gullibility. I swear, I wasn’t trying to hurt you, Tor.”
“The only person who stood to gain anything from this messed-up situation is you.”
“Intentions don’t count, is that it? There have been plenty of people in my life I’ve purposely set out to hurt, but you aren’t one of them.”
“Yeah, that makes sense.”
“Do you know what my colleagues say about me?” Teagan asked.
“I have several guesses.”
“They think I’m seducing patients into the practice to make partner.”
“Are you?” Victoria asked.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I have standards. I’m a good doctor—yes, doctor, don’t roll your eyes at me—and secured the TikTok plastic surgery corner early, but my popularity apparently gives the staff free reign to start rumors about my patient list. And when they’re not accusing me of sleeping my way to the top, Glen is there to ogle and berate me; it never ends. I’m constantly on edge waiting for the next round of rumors stemming from someone else’s feelings of pettiness and inadequacy. And then Glen uses that to his advantage. God, the number of times he’s pointed to the Doc Teags account as a justification for his shitty behavior. I’m sorry, but I can’t just wait for him to retire or die. I need to get out of there or I’m going to do something horrible and royally fuck my future.”
“Drama queen.”
“Vanilla bean.”
And, oh, how Victoria understood the urge to do something horrible. “Why does it matter what Glen says? You could easily find another practice to set up shop.”
“Being a content creator isn’t as lucrative as it seems. Even if it were, I can’t spend the rest of my life posting lipo TikToks to viral song clips. It’s embarrassing. And a lateral movement from one practice to another would accomplish nothing. I needed more.”
“And sleeping with Warren was the only way to get it?” she asked.
“Like I said before: I didn’t know about Livingston when I asked Warren to back me. He knew, though, and he was eager. He was pushing for me to have the proposal set before the end of the year. Everything was moving along without a hitch, but a few days before I had the forms ready he came to me and said he couldn’t do it anymore. Refused to tell me why. I think we both know what the hitch was now.”
“His determination to get you on board with the family plan.” Teagan scooched the other chair closer to Victoria’s so they were sitting interview style, knees nearly touching. “The idea of being a father himself—I don’t know, I think he was getting lost in the fantasy. He was thrilled by the prospect of you staying home with a baby, all midnight feedings and dirty diapers. That rosy nuclear daydream made him a coward.”
He was always a coward, Victoria thought. “So you killed him.”
“He didn’t give me much choice. Warren was going to give me the rest of the money at the Gala. We met in the woods outside the Mansion, but instead of celebrating with the final check installment, he told me he was having doubts.”
“The check was for you? Judy thought it was for Betty.”
Teagan chuckled and reclined further into the chair, running her thumb up and down the fabric in a soothing line. “Judy’s sense of self-importance is truly a thing of beauty. Betty was an . . . unexpected irritation. Warren didn’t give me all the specifics, but Dave somehow let it slip to Betty that he was considering investing in us—me.”
“Dave and Betty were backing your private practice?”
“Is it that hard to believe?”
“Dave was one of the first clients that Warren brought in outside of Dad’s list.”
“Have you learned nothing about the game?” Teagan asked. “Dad, Barnaby, Dave—they’re all the same. They make the money, sure, but they put that money where they’re told to. Betty wanted more. Her entire life was an Instagram sponsorship, and she was ready for more creative agency. She got greedy, though. Tried blackmailing Warren into siphoning money directly to her instead of waiting for the return on their investment. She threatened to out us if we didn’t give her a bigger cut of the profits, and she wanted a lump sum up front for the trouble. Let’s just say she was not happy with me when I pointed out how it wouldn’t cover half the amount that she’d need to fix her boobs.”
Victoria released a rush of air. “So Warren was going to give the money that he’d promised to you to Betty to keep her quiet, but that was also a stopgap. He wasn’t going to go through with the investment to your practice, and that pissed you off.”
“I mean, yes, I was fucking furious. We’d been arguing for days. Then he went to lunch with Betty, which I knew was a horrible idea, but he didn’t listen. Whatever she said to him worked because he lost his nerve. Let me be clear: If he’d have lived, there was no chance he would’ve let that transfer go through. He was digging his heels in. I knew that if he were to be taken out of the equation, however, the future would become much more manageable. I didn’t want him to die, but he had to go.”
Victoria wondered briefly if this was how she would’ve sounded to someone else if she’d tried to explain her rationale for planning Warren’s murder. It had all made sense in her mind. It had been foolproof.
“Are you hearing yourself?” Victoria asked. “Instead of asking me for help, you killed him.”
“Please,” Teagan sneered. “Tor, be real. You would’ve kicked my ass to the curb before I finished the question. I’m a burden, someone you have to tolerate. You have no faith in me or my career. One big joke. Getting struck by lightning would’ve been more likely than you offering to support me going solo.”
To that, Victoria had no response. It would be easy to say she would’ve helped, to protest and deny, but ultimately, they both knew it would’ve been an act.